From the red clay of Stuttgart to the blue clay of Madrid, Maria Sharapova continued her strong play in the first round of the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open by routing Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-0 6-3. Most importantly, Masha brought her strong service game with her. Both players had 79% first serve percentages, but that means a lot more for Sharapova than Begu, as Masha won an astounding 88% of points on her first serve. She was never broken in the match while breaking Begu 4 times. Obviously, the path gets more difficult as Masha advances through the draw, but but coming off her title at the 2012 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix it’s good to get the first match in Madrid out of the way quickly.

“The blue clay is obviously different, visually. When you play on red clay for so many years you get used to it, but as tennis players we’re always adjusting to different things and different conditions, so it is what it is. There are some parts of the courts that maybe have a little more clay than other parts, but it’s just the first year, so I’m sure they’re still working kinks out.” – Maria Sharapova

Victoria Azarenka

Having a considerably more difficult time in her first match was Victoria Azarenka, who had a very difficult opening round opponent in 2-time Major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova. Sveta had beaten Vika in two previous meetings on clay, but this time Azarenka was able to grind her way through 7-6 (5) 6-4. Kuznetsova had her chance, up a break in the second set. She also fired off 10 aces. But in the end, it wasn’t enough to knock off the world’s #1 on this day.